my Ignition switch came loose the other day and when I went to put it back together I found that the screw holes are cracked. I randomly and luckily happen to have a second ignition switch from a box of parts from the previous owner, but it has a different key. For the sake of wanting to keep a consistent key for the gas tank and ignition switch, is it possible to swap the locks in the ignition switch?
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Ignition switch lock swap
- Thread starter JE4570
- Start date
peterg
XS650 Addict
Have a looks at Peanut's excellent write up:
http://www.xs650.com/threads/ignition-switch-overhaul.46712/
http://www.xs650.com/threads/ignition-switch-overhaul.46712/
I don’t think that thread answers my question. I need to replace the lock part because the black plastic housing cracked and can no longer thread. Is this possible?
But that will be helpful when I clean the new ignition
Yes, it's possible. All the parts can be swapped out. But I'm not exactly clear on what part of yours is broken. Post a pic if you can. Then I can probably explain how to go about replacing it. I'm assuming this is a Special ignition switch assembly with the fork lock attached to the bottom?
Sorry for the delay. The switch I have is like the one pictured and its the plastic large plastic part of the switch which is where the small Phillips head (or JIS? Probably) go that is stripped out and cracked off. I couldn’t figure out how to get the lock part out of that. I just switched to the new ignition switch and am putting up with two keys for now. If it is possible to switch that out i would love to make that happen, but if not I guess I’ll keep an eye out on eBay for a lock with the same key type.
Attachments
Yes, it's possible to remove and swap lock cylinders. Peanut's write-up stops just short of showing you how to do that, don't know why. If you're going to clean out your ignition switch, you might as well do the whole thing, not a half-assed partial job. The lock cylinder and it's parts usually need cleaning and greasing too. Disassemble your switch as far as Peanut's write-up shows. You will be left with the lock cylinder in the housing. There is a small spring on top of it that will lift right off. Remove it. Don't mind the arrow in the pic below, that is pointing out the plunger that gets pushed down in when you push the key cylinder down to enable the fork lock function .....
Once you pull the little spring off, you may need to wipe some grease away and you'll see a brass plate sticking out of the side of the lock cylinder. That's what holds it in the housing .....
Using a small screwdriver or pick of some sort, push that plate into the lock cylinder and the cylinder can be slid out the top of the housing .....
Take care while removing it and watch that none of the spring-loaded wafers get ejected out the side. You may need to hold them in with a finger as you pull the cylinder out. They are different sizes that match the key cuts so if you mix their positions up, the key won't work .....
As I mentioned, the lock cylinder and wafers usually require a cleaning too. The wafers get all tarnished and gummed up with old lube. The wafer slots in the lock cylinder along with the key slot can be all gummed up too. In the pic below, the 2 wafers on the left haven't been cleaned yet, the 3 on the right have. I polish them clean and shiny with the little wire wheel bit in a Dremel .....
Once you pull the little spring off, you may need to wipe some grease away and you'll see a brass plate sticking out of the side of the lock cylinder. That's what holds it in the housing .....
Using a small screwdriver or pick of some sort, push that plate into the lock cylinder and the cylinder can be slid out the top of the housing .....
Take care while removing it and watch that none of the spring-loaded wafers get ejected out the side. You may need to hold them in with a finger as you pull the cylinder out. They are different sizes that match the key cuts so if you mix their positions up, the key won't work .....
As I mentioned, the lock cylinder and wafers usually require a cleaning too. The wafers get all tarnished and gummed up with old lube. The wafer slots in the lock cylinder along with the key slot can be all gummed up too. In the pic below, the 2 wafers on the left haven't been cleaned yet, the 3 on the right have. I polish them clean and shiny with the little wire wheel bit in a Dremel .....
When I pull a lock cylinder apart for cleaning, I make a little drawing first numbering the wafer slots from the top where the key inserts down. Then I pull the wafers one at a time, measure them, and record their size. I don't remove the lock plate. They are usually stuck in there real good, possibly crimped in place. I just clean around them as best I can with them still in the cylinder .....
The bottom section of the wafer is what the key works against and what gets measured .....
Once the wafers and lock cylinder are cleaned, I pack the empty cylinder full of white lithium grease .....
..... then insert the springs and wafers .....
You can test whether the wafers are in the right spots by inserting the key. If they are, all the wafers will get pulled down flush with the cylinder .....
If they're not, the wafers will either still stick up of get pulled down too far and stick out the other side .....
The bottom section of the wafer is what the key works against and what gets measured .....
Once the wafers and lock cylinder are cleaned, I pack the empty cylinder full of white lithium grease .....
..... then insert the springs and wafers .....
You can test whether the wafers are in the right spots by inserting the key. If they are, all the wafers will get pulled down flush with the cylinder .....
If they're not, the wafers will either still stick up of get pulled down too far and stick out the other side .....
Well I finally got the time. The new switch looked the same but it had a metal outer piece instead of the cheap plastic one I had originally. It wasn’t as simple as just swapping out my lock unfortunately, but The good news did get my old one to work!
The new ignition switch’s lock piece with the tumblers had a smaller diameter and was just slightly different enough so that my old key would not just work with the new lock by just simply swapping the old tumblers to the new lock.
Since I felt like I didn’t have much to lose I decided to try and make the original lock and tumblers with the slightly larger diameter fit into the new switch housing. It may have sounded like a terrible idea at the time, but I ended up taking my old lock piece to a grinding wheel with a brush like attachment that is meant for cleaning to bear metal. The attachment removes a really small amount of material at a time so I kept my lock piece moving consistently and checked it often until I could slide it into the other lock’s metal housing. Note that not too much material really needed to be grounded down because they were very close in size.
Then I ran into another small problem, and that was that the tumblers in the newer lock sat flush with the surface of the cylindrical housing when the key was inserted, while my original lock’s tumblers stuck up about a half millimeter from the original unground surface. To remedy this, I ground the old tumblers down so that they too sat flush with newly ground cylindrical surface of the lock.
After all that, my next problem was that the springs for the tumblers were too long and pushed the tumblers out too far and almost made my key get stuck forever when I tried to use the fork lock. So to remedy that, (after wrestling the lock back out of the housing) I swapped to the new lock’s tumbler springs.
Now after all that, I have a working ignition switch with my original key that matches the seat and gas tank locks!
Sorry for not having pictures which might have made my post less confusing. Thank you 5twins for that valuable information. I would have never figured out how the lock came out of the housing.
The new ignition switch’s lock piece with the tumblers had a smaller diameter and was just slightly different enough so that my old key would not just work with the new lock by just simply swapping the old tumblers to the new lock.
Since I felt like I didn’t have much to lose I decided to try and make the original lock and tumblers with the slightly larger diameter fit into the new switch housing. It may have sounded like a terrible idea at the time, but I ended up taking my old lock piece to a grinding wheel with a brush like attachment that is meant for cleaning to bear metal. The attachment removes a really small amount of material at a time so I kept my lock piece moving consistently and checked it often until I could slide it into the other lock’s metal housing. Note that not too much material really needed to be grounded down because they were very close in size.
Then I ran into another small problem, and that was that the tumblers in the newer lock sat flush with the surface of the cylindrical housing when the key was inserted, while my original lock’s tumblers stuck up about a half millimeter from the original unground surface. To remedy this, I ground the old tumblers down so that they too sat flush with newly ground cylindrical surface of the lock.
After all that, my next problem was that the springs for the tumblers were too long and pushed the tumblers out too far and almost made my key get stuck forever when I tried to use the fork lock. So to remedy that, (after wrestling the lock back out of the housing) I swapped to the new lock’s tumbler springs.
Now after all that, I have a working ignition switch with my original key that matches the seat and gas tank locks!
Sorry for not having pictures which might have made my post less confusing. Thank you 5twins for that valuable information. I would have never figured out how the lock came out of the housing.
